Energy is the key to success.Enterprise is the countersign of all legitimate ambition.

But unfortunately, energy and enterprise are often the
property and the peculiar characteristics of the unprincipled and unscrupulous,
as well as of the honest and honorable.They
may be possessed by the disreputable schemer, as well as by the business man of
character and integrity.They may
be the peculiar traits of the thief, the highwayman, the robber, as well as of
the most intelligent forwarder of some great popular belief.

The modern flood of Western immigration has been brought
about by energy and enterprise.

True, it was born of principles akin to these.True, it was a movement self-conceived, irresistible, inevitable.But it was fathered and furthered and assisted by yet other energy and
enterprise.

To the man weary of the crowded and unfriendly East;weary of toil without recompense;weary
of a life whose night held no ray of promise for a brighter day, the West
extended her greeting and her invitation.There,
in the unknown West, lay Hope, lay possibilities.

But the West was unknown.It lay an unexplored sea.It
lay needful of a pilot.It lay with
the rocks, the reefs, the barren shores which any sea must hold.There was need of advice, of knowledge, of a guide.

[page iv]

And there were guides enough.True guides and false;guides
real and pretended;but usually
guides of energy and enterprise.Now
it was the railway companies, now private individuals, who had pushed ahead into
the unknown land, and, having acquired interests there, sought either to dispose
of them or to enhance their value by voicing praises of the land wherein they
lay.Now it was the honest and
fair-dealing business man who had something to say about the West, and now it
was the audacious sharper, eager only for a dupe, a victim.Men, corporations, companies, individuals;honest men, business men, sharks, thieves, rogues, robbers, highwaymen
– all united in volunteering information and assistance to the would-be
settler.

The West was advertised.It was advertised with energy and enterprise.Never was anything advertised so well.Good, bad and indifferent, it was all advertised well.The bad parts were advertised better than the good.They had to be.That is true
to-day.The most inferior parts of
Kansas to-day, for instance, are being most energetically advertised by
unscrupulous men.

In the midst of all this flood of real and pretended
information about the West, how should the immigrant choose?He was plied with bombastic circulars, folders, pamphlets, books, maps,
and “real estate guides,” each and all of which assured him, in words the
most glowing, that this or that particular section of country was the only one
on earth for him if he wanted to be rich and happy, and to live without work or
care.And if by chance he was
enabled to determine a locality to visit, he was, upon his arrival, so assailed,
beset, tormented by curb-stone “brokers,” “agents,” and God knows what
of other heartless sharks and sharpers, that he was lucky if he escaped with
either mind or purse intact.

The system of Western land advertising, tainted as it was
by pal-

[page v]

pable untruthfulness, fell into disrepute.More than that, it was often impossible to tell the truthful from the
false, so ingeniously or plausibly were misrepresentation and deceit often
hidden under a veil of apparent candor.The
public grew accustomed to hearing the charms of this or that locality lauded to
the skies;and gradually it learned to pass by each new pretentious
effort with more or less credulous indifference.

To-day the case is not different.The honest and energetic business advertiser comes into
competition with the untruthful and unprincipled.His statements must bear a scrutiny often tempered by a
suspicion which once was warranted.His
words must run the risk of being passed without notice or without belief.All that he can do is to be strictly honorable and truthful himself, and
then to beg for his words the most rigid scrutiny, and the most careful
investigation of the claims to which he makes pretensions.In short, he must alike defy and invite the most unsparing criticism.

The compilers of these pages hand them to you as an
advertisement.Keep them.They may be of service to you or to a friend.Read them.Read between the
lines if you like.We submit that
we have shown energy and enterprise in preparing so elaborate and artistic a
presentation of our town for you.We
agree that we were interested in doing this.But we challenge you to find one word of untruthfulness between these
covers, or one marked by want of candor.The
compilers are not beginners in business.They
have their characters to maintain.They
cheerfully ask you to examine into their references and their records, if you
like.And they will be more than
pleased—they will have done all they wished, if they shall have induced you to
investigate the claims which they make for their well-placed, well-founded and
well-named young city of Sterling.

Any reading matter which is professedly circulated for
advertising

[page vi]

purposes is liable to mistrust;but the compilers wish to say that they have taken the
greatest care to avoid that exaggeration which is so common and so dangerous,
and to forbear from empty vaporings of past successes, as well as from vague and
indefinite rhetoric.This little
work holds the latest information obtainable from official records as to crops,
yields, etc., and it is hoped that this and the other information offered is
presented in as accessible a form and as clear a manner as possible.

The compilers deal not alone with the past, although the
past is interesting.It is the
present which is uppermost in all men’s minds to-day.And it is the Kansas of to-day, and the present outlook of their country
and their community, which they have endeavored to set forward.

That they might the better do this, they have enlisted the
expensive services of two special artists in illustrating their work, and have
spared no pains in their effort to be conscientiously pleasing and honestly
instructive.In return for their
trouble in preparing these pages, they ask only that – you may turn the pages.

[page 7]

Chapter I.

The History of
Sterling in Epitome.—A Hasty Sketch of Her Early Days.—Born in “Peace”,
She Lives in Plenty.

The history of Sterling as an incorporated city goes back
but eleven years.It was only in
1875 that she received her charter as a city of the third class.Before that date she had scant four years of frontier existence.Sterling was originally christened by the mild name of Peace.She has lost that name;yet peace has ever abode within her walls, and prosperity within her
gates.

In the Fall of 1871 a company was formed in Topeka, known
as the Agricultural Colony of Kansas, the original and charter members of which
were C. D. Bradley, H. P. Ninde, J. B. Slichter, Mahlon Stubbs, William Hunt, H.
H. Harris, and Dr. Hunt.Among
those added afterwards were H. T. Besse, Clarkson Taber, Geo. McPherson and
others.The year of 1871 was early
in the history of Kansas.All this
great region now so full of life and energy;of wealth, intelligence, culture;of
hope and happiness, and pleasure, and success, was then an unbroken and almost
untracted waste, roamed only by the hunter and the scout.Instead of herds of cattle, there were the countless millions of the
buffaloes;and where now the smoke
curls up from thousands of happy homes, only the thin shaft from the tepee-fire
of the wandering savage shot up into the morning sky.Following along the great natural artery of the Arkansas River, the old
Santa Fe Trail crawled in its slow life.Only,
along this trail, pushing on with the life of another day, cam the iron trail of
the great Santa Fe road, since to play so great a part in revolutionizing
Kansas.

It was the object of this Agricultural Colony to locate,
somewhere along the line of this Santa Fe Railway, a colony of farmers, and to
establish a community well in advance of that new civilization which it was
wisely foreseen would soon make the old desert blossom like the rose.The Terminus of the road was then away back at Newton, which was then a
tough railroad town of about one hundred inhabitants, all hard citizens.

The company made its first exploring trip in the latter
part of December, 1871, and following the railway survey out to the western
border of Rice county, pitched upon a spot which lay in the midst of a vast,
fertile, and then unoccupied tract of land.Scattered about in

[page 8]

this young domain were several new communities.Union City had been started by an Ohio colony.Atlanta, then the county seat, and situated on the old Santa Fe Trail,
was an ambitious city of perhaps thirty inhabitants.There were also several little settlements along Cow Creek.The county was already organized, and ready for business.

The company made a second trip during the first week of
January, 1872, and finally determined its location.Accordingly the town of Peace was surveyed upon the 15th
day of that month, and the work of building the city was begun.A Town Company was formed under the incorporate name of the Peace Town
Company.It consisted of a board of
five—three members chosen by the railroad company and two chosen by the
Agricultural Colony.The head office of the Peace Town Company was in Topeka, and
the local office was at Peace;Mr.
H. P. Ninde being the local agent.The
first building was erected south of town on the claim of H. P. Ninde, now known
as the Wilson Keys farm.

This first building was a curiosity in its way, and so
truly characteristic of the time that it may be of some interest to say
something of it.It was moved over
from the town of Peabody by Mr. E. Hadlock before the town site of Peace was
surveyed.It was so built that the
west

[page 9]

slope of the roof would drop its gatherings upon the
adjoining claim.An addition was
built to this to hold the claim now known as the Dr. Potter farm.The main building contained four rooms below and one above.In one of these rooms Messrs. Landis & Hollinger opened out a stock
of general merchandise.The
portions of the building not needed for merchandise were used for a hotel, under
the proprietorship of E. Hadlock and lady.It was also used on the Sabbath for religious service and Sabbath-school.The addition was a room eight by ten feet.It was occupied by Mr. Ninde, and contained the usual amount
of household goods needful in those days.It
contained the postoffice, land office, Peace Town Company office, and
surveyor’s office, and was the headquarters for all council and board
meetings, and general business and legal transactions for the town and county,
for about six months.The main
building was afterward used for a dwelling, and later it was converted into a
barn.It was since taken down, and
the material has been variously used in the building of stables and
out-buildings on Mr. Keys’ farm.

[page 10]

Messrs. Landis & Hollinger erected the first building
on the town site on the lot now occupied by the Rice County bank, and on May 10,
1872, moved their stock of goods into it, and opened out a general trade in
groceries, dry goods, queensware, boots and shoes, hardware, lumber, grain,
furniture, farm implements, paints, oils, drugs, buffalo hides and buffalo beef.In fact, nearly all the present branches of business in Sterling were
then represented by this one firm.At
this time there were only five buildings within a radius of five miles from the
center of the town site.

The growth of the town was very slow about this time.Raymond was “booming” under the illusion of the Texas cattle trade.It had thirteen saloons, several dance houses, five or six store
buildings, and had voted bonds for a $10,000 school house, and was the terminus
of the Salina, Atlanta & Raymond Railroad.Rice county voted $150,000 bonds to build this road.The A., T. & S. F. R. R. Co. and Peace Town Company jointly entered
suit against the S., A. & R. R. R. Co., and enjoined these bonds, and thus
rid the county of a monster fraud.

On the 26th day of June, 1872, at 4 P. M., the
first train arrived at Peace.This
was a construction train of about forty cars;and of all the days of this town, there never was one of greater
interest.To see a construction
train such as this was, that will build from two to three miles of track in a
day, is no ordinary sight.On the
morning of the 26th the smoke of the engine could be seen two miles
east, and on the evening of the 27th it camped two miles west of
town.

With the advent of the railroad the town assumed new
importance in its own eyes, and began to make some plans for the future, which
it felt was to be its own.To what
extent the ambitions of the community reached may perhaps be shown by the story
of the first school building of the town.The
first school meeting in Rice county was held at the old “Green Mountain
House” early in September, and resulted in the organization of School District
No. 1.Bonds were voted, and a
school house twenty-five by forty feet was erected near the spot where the
present building is located, on College Square.The

[page 11]

School Board were criticised and censured for building so
large a house!It was claimed that
this town would never grow to the dimensions to need such school accommodations!The present school buildings could not then be dreamed of.

During the years 1873-4 the town enjoyed a lively and
healthy growth.The grasshopper
plague, in July, 1874, put a temporary check upon the business growth of both
town and country.But this check
was only temporary.The
grasshoppers have never returned.Four
years of unbounded fruitfulness succeeded the grasshopper plague.And unprecedented tide of emigration flooded the Arkansas valley, and the
government land for over one hundred miles west of this point was soon taken and
occupied by actual settlers.Much
of the railroad lands were purchased by those who had means to improve them. A
new era seemed to open up for this great West.That these rich lands were destined to become the real garden of the west
seemed manifest to all who beheld them.Five
successive bountiful wheat harvests gave the country an earth-wide reputation,
and this whole country was called the great wheat belt of the west, and boomed
under that cry.The town of Peace
enjoyed its full share of this boom;and
so rapid was its growth that in April, 1875, it had already reached the
necessary population to become, as we have said, an incorporated city of the
third class;whereupon it put away
childish things, shook off even the name of its youth with the dust of early and
forgotten days, and entered upon its future life as the prosperous city of
Sterling.

What that future has been and will be;and what Sterling, her surroundings, and her actual advantages are
to-day, will be set forth in future chapters, for which we beg your continued
attention.

[page 12]

[Broadway Street Scene, Sterling, Kansas]

[page 13]

Chapter II.

Geographical
Location of Sterling.—Her Fortunate Situation in the Pick of the Agricultural
Lands.

She is the Key of
the Arkansas Valley, and She Locks the Door for None.

The Natural
Commercial Point of a Vast Section of Territory, and General Distributing Depot
for the Surrounding Country.

There may be some who do not know where Sterling is.The reader may happen to be one of that number—which it is the especial
purpose for these pages to reach.We
do not talk to those who know all about Sterling, but to those who do not.To these we are glad to say that Sterling is the largest town in Rice
county, and is situated but a few miles from the geographical center of Kansas,
in the heart of the richest portion of the rich Arkansas valley.

There are some lands in Kansas which, by reasons of their
rough, or sandy, or barren nature, are not desirable for agricultural purposes.There are such lands in any state.But
lands of this character are not found in the valley of the Arkansas.The only trouble about that is, that the valley lands form so small a
portion of the whole country.We do
not mean to say that the other lands are not often, and usually,

[page 14]

good;but only
to say that the valley lands are usually the richest and freest from waste;and that usually a town commands only a comparatively small area of these
lands.

It is Sterling’s especial fortune to have at her command
so large an acreage, or mileage, of these exceptionally fertile lands.A glance at a map will show the reason for this.Some twenty miles down the river Cow creek empties into the Arkansas, yet
there is no dividing ridge of any prominence between the valleys of the two
streams for ten miles above this place.The
distance between the streams here is about eight miles.The several streams of which the Cow creek is composed unite at a point
nearly north from Sterling, and their valleys blend for long distance, giving in
the central portion of Rice county one of the largest and most fertile tracts of
level land to be found in the West.

All this rich country—and nothing but a look at it will
be just to its claims for richness—is directly tributary to Sterling;it trades there, takes the railroad there, and depends upon that town for
its supplies.But that is not all.Besides this great stretch of territory there is the valley and the rich
rolling prairie of the Little Arkansas, to which Sterling is also the key.

[page 15]

Upon the south side of the Big Arkansas, connected with the
north side by a permanent free bridge, comes in the wide valley of Peace creek,
and a magnificent country stretching away to the southwest.

Farther than this, Sterling has behind her unlimited
reaches of the noble “high prairie,” which, rising up beyond the low bluffs
of the Arkansas, stretch off and away, in gently swelling undulations of brown,
and gray, and black, and green, where grass, or crops, or settlers’ plow most
mark the patient and prolific earth.We
do not exaggerate—we do not need, and do not dare, to exaggerate when we say
that Sterling is thus, by the fortituous [sic] circumstance of her location,
placed in the heart of a vast region whose natural fertility is not surpassed in
the West.

There is not a foot
of waste land within twenty miles of Sterling.

The surrounding country, while not yet all taken up by
actual occupants, is thickly settled with a prosperous class of farmers.The town has never been “boomed” under any of that feverish and
pernicious affliction which is but too prevalent in Western towns.Her growth has been sure and solid.Sterling does not want the earth.She
does not say

[page 16]

that she is the only town on earth where you should go.She does not try to force you to locate there.she only modestly tries to present her actual advantages to you, in a
fair and careful way.This
disposition on the part of the town and of her business men has proved the best
possible policy.The town is not
ahead of the country, but has plenty of country to back it.It draws trade from the country fifteen, twenty-five, and even thirty
miles round about, and holds its trade, too.The streets are usually lively, often crowded.

Sterling is located on the through line of the great Santa
Fe Railway, and thus has direct communication with the markets of the East and
West.But she is not restricted in
her railway facilities.The famous
Rock Island Route, which has astonished the world by its rapid inroads on Kansas
territory during this present year, has made the town one of its main points.The Abilene, Sterling & Southwestern Railway, for which bonds are
voted, which is under construction, and which will be completed during the
coming Spring, is owned and will be operated by the Rock Island, as a part of
its system in Kansas.A town could
not have two better roads than the Santa Fe and the Rock Island.

But these are not all.The Missouri Pacific road is already located

[page 17]

through and beyond the town, and is building on both sides
of it.The cars will be at Sterling
by January 1, 1887.Thus the great
Gould system will also lend a helping hand.

The Ft. Smith, Kansas & Nebraska Railroad also has
bonds voted, and is under contract for a long distance north of Sterling.This road will be built during the coming year.It will open up a great Southern system, the chief points of which are
Memphis, New Orleans and Galveston.

Rice county will have
212 miles of railroad built within her borders at the end of the coming year.

Sterling has just completed arrangements for a system of
water works, which will be put in as much as possible this winter.In all probability the plant will be extended to embrace gas works also,
and then very probably the electric light.This is very commonly the case in Kansas towns.

Sterling already has a complete telephone exchange, and is
connected by telephone with Lyons, Stafford and St. John.

Not to be behind in any way in the line of march of modern
progress, this live, energetic and thoughtful young city has recently taken a
step which will secure educational advantages not approached by any town in
Kansas.

[page 18]

(Cooper Memorial College, Sterling)

[page 19]

On October 21, 1886, Sterling secured the establishment
with herself of the Cooper Memorial College, which will be the denominational
college of the United Presbyterian Church of North America.To influence the location of this great educational institution, Sterling
gave ten acres of her best ground—a lofty site only three-fourths of a mile
from the center of town, and commanding a grand view of the surrounding
country—and at once erects a $25,000 edifice to give the college proper
housing.To offset this princely
liberality, the United Presbyterian Church of North America endows the
institution with the magnificent sum of $100,000.Thus set on its feet, with no indebtedness to meet and no begging to do,
this college can at once set about its work as one of the leading educational
centers of the West.Its faculty will be made up of the ablest minds;its appliances will be perfect;it
will furnish what Kansas needs—a place where higher training can be afforded
her more ambitious youth.The
elegant building which will be the nucleus of this college will be completed and
occupied by its first classes on September 1, 1887.

Sterling does an immense business in all lines of trade.To meet the requirements placed upon her she has now three

[page 20]

Grain elevators, three lumber yards, two flouring mills
(roller process), two sorghum and sugar mills, one sawing and planing mill, two
brick yards, five dry goods, eight grocery, three hardware, three jewelry, three
boot and shoe, three notion, and five drug stores, besides two bakeries, four
restaurants, four hotels, four blacksmith shops, broom factory, two photograph
galleries, five millinery and dress making establishments, a First National and
two other banking institutions, etc.

Sterling has a large and handsome school house, costing
$10,000, eight church buildings, and three church organizations without any
regular place of worship.

Sterling spent about $10,000 during the past year in
curbing, street grading, drainage, and other public improvements.

The First National Bank building, erected in 1885, is,
without exception, one of the finest and best finished structures in this
western country.

The International Roller Mill, built in 1884, has perhaps
no equal in this country.The
Crystal flour it manufactures speaks for itself.This mill has a capacity of 150 barrels of flour in twenty-four hours,
and contains all the latest improved machinery.

[page 21]

The Transcontinental Hotel, built in 1884, is in every
respect a first class hotel, and one of the largest in this valley.

Goodson’s Opera House, erected in 1880, contains one of
the most capacious halls in this part of the country.The arrangements are most complete and artistic, and such as
will accommodate themselves to the most popular performance as well as to the
ordinary lecture.

Sterling is especially noted for its fine residences and
neat cottages, its superior church and school privileges, the culture and social
qualities of its people, the energy and enterprise of the whole citizenship.All these things put together make it a desirable home for those who are
seeking health;for those who are
seeking a comfortable place to live, and for those who may wish to find a place
for profitable business.

The price of property in Sterling is yet low, compared with
the improvements and prospects of the town, and can be purchased at prices which
are simply speculative in their advantages, as everything now looks as if there
would be, under the advent of the three new railroads, one of those sudden
accessions in value which so often and so swiftly set in growing Kansas towns.

[page 22]

There are grand openings in Sterling for several
manufacturing enterprises, and it is to be hoped that these greatest blessings
to a western town may soon be present in yet greater numbers.A tannery, a paper mill, a foundry, an implement factory, a button, a
glove and hat factory—all of these enterprises are worthy the consideration of
men of capital and energy, and would all flourish and make money.

It seems strange that men will fill the cities, starve
themselves and families, while in the West—in Kansas—independence and a
promise of plenty stand upon the threshold, ready to welcome all who come to
labor and to do their share.On
every side here may be seen those who a few years ago were penniless, and who
now, by diligence, thrift and energy, have become living reproaches to the men
of any country who plead poverty, and claim they cannot get work to do.

If thousands who are now living in destitution and misery,
rearing children in damp basements or high attics, would come to our free
prairies they might soon hold up their heads among men, and give to their
children other inheritance than poverty, and something beside contempt for their
parents.

If a preference for city life is their excuse for living in
misery and poverty, it is a very flimsy one, for in Kansas may be found cities,

[page 23]

towns and villages which for activity and bustle will
compare favorably with the older ones of the East.

Kansas cities differ materially, however, from the
over-crowded and air-poisoned cities of the eastern states.Here in Kansa we have delightful weather, pure air, and very few cases of
sickness, want or distress.The man
who is willing to work can always find employment, be he mechanic or laboring
man.

To the reader, be he business man, capitalist or laborer,
we put the question, Are you happy?Are
you contented?Are you doing right
by your children?Do you want to
know more about the West?Do you
not think Sterling would please you?

[page 24]

Chapter III.

Rice County, The
Banner County of the State.—A Few Words in Regard to its Settlement and
Development.

And Reasons Why
the Settler Should Go There Rather than Further West.

The time when what is now Rice county was considered a part
of the Great American Desert, when it was roamed over by the red man and the
buffalo, is not very far in the past.Less
than fifteen years ago the pioneer came, thinking his gun his best dependence,
little dreaming of the undeveloped wealth in the soil all about him.

To-Day this desert stands acknowledged one of the best
counties in the best state in the Union.Its
latest census shows a population of 12,000 as against the five
which was the sum total of the white inhabitants in 1862.These later years show vast fields of wheat, corn, and other produce, as
against the wild men and wild animals of the not distant past.Rice county is doing her full share toward making Kansas what it has been
called, “The main storehouse of the nation’s support.”Owing to an exceptional winter, the wheat crop last year was a
comparative failure, but this has not happened for years before, and in all
probability will not again for years in the future.

Rice county is within the great “wheat belt,” having on
her eastern border McPherson county, the proved greatest wheat producing county

[page25]

in the world.Our
soil is much the same as hers, and we think, only needs the things which come
with longer settlement—larger population, less unbroken prairie, and more
thorough tillage—to make it fully the equal of its neighbor.

The land is high rolling prairie, with a few sand hills
along the Arkansas River, in its southern border.It is all good farming land and is settled, for the most part, by a
thrifty, intelligent class of farmers.It
is also admirably adapted to stock raising, and many fine “bunches” of
cattle, herds of ponies, and droves of hogs are found within its borders.

Though so short a time has elapsed since its first
settlement, yet many beautiful homes have taken the places of the earlier sod
houses and dugouts;where these
still remain, or have been more recently fashioned to meet the wants of late
comers, they have taken on a cozy, comfortable look, which tells of thrift and
measurable success.Many of these
are surrounded by beautiful groves, where the buffalo grass and the sunflower
made the only shade a few years ago.Many
also have fine orchards—though these are fewer than they should be because of
the early opinion that “the desert” could grow nothing but cotton and box
alder of the tree kind.Some of
these are now bearing fine and well-flavored fruit, and the rest

[page 26]

are giving goodly promise for the future.Berries, cherries, currants, and all kinds of small fruits are also
receiving a good share of attention, and proving the country to be well adapted
to their culture.

The whole number of acres in the county is 484,800.About half of these are under cultivation as yet, but the prairie land is
being rapidly subjected to the tickling of the plow.As has been already intimated, these acres are all tillable—at least
the percentage of untillable is too small for computation.

As in nearly all of Kansas, and to a greater degree than in
some parts of it, all the new labor-saving machinery is in use.The old style “back east” implements are scarcely seen.The riding plows, corn planters, listers, sulky rakes, twine binders,
etc., make farming in this prairie country a light task comparatively, and
enable one man with one team to farm to an extent which would astonish the
natives of the hilly, stony, stumpy farms of the east.These things, taken together with the rich, fertile, loamy soil, combine
to make this the farmer’s paradise.Nearly
every crop grown in the temperate zone finds our climate congenial.Corn and wheat have been already mentioned.Broom corn is also largely raised.So
is sorghum, the

[page 27]

sugar from which received the recognition of a premium at
the late World’s Exposition at New Orleans.

Besides the farming and stock interests, there are various
manufactories—in their infancy as yet, but giving promise for the future.Prominent amount these are the milling interests.Large flouring mills with patent rollers and other modern improvements
are in operation in Sterling, and grinding up the wheat and exporting flour to
various points both east and west.There
are also broom factories working up for home and outside use one of the
country’s principal products, as likewise syrup and sugar mills for giving
proper attention to another of her staples.There are several brickyards turning out a good quantity of brick, which
are being used in the construction of handsome business and dwelling houses.There are several smaller industries represented, and room for more, if
conducted by men of push who can abide the day of small things without becoming
unduly discouraged.

Rice county has an advantage over the East, and even over
some parts of Kansas in the herd law.This
requires every owner of stock to look after his own and not require his neighbor
to do it for him.Consequently the
expense of fencing is not great, and the unsightly “worm fence” is

[page 28]

not seen.To
one accustomed to the small fields of the eastern states, it seems almost as
though the whole of Rice county were in one’s dooryard.Yet in reality there is a great deal of fence of one kind or
another—the Osage orange hedge, serving the triple purpose of wind break,
beautifier of the landscape and fence—the wire fence about pasture land and
barn corrals, and a few board and picket fences around town lots.But for these fences, the expense falls where it belongs—on the owners
of the stock guarded by it, and not on his neighbors.And indirect benefit is that it encourages the raising of better stock.If a man is obliged to fence for stock he naturally wants stock worth
fencing for.An inferior article
will not suite him as it would in the days when the whole state was free
pasture.As a consequence we see
fine blooded stock here and there all over the county in place of the scrub
ponies, Texas cows and razor-backed hogs of a few years ago.

Rice county, for one so recently settled, is well supplied
with schools and churches.There
are ninety school houses in the county, ranging from the sod house remaining in
a few of the outlying districts, to the $12,000 or #14,000 brick building of six
and eight rooms in Sterling.The
majority, however, are good, comfortable frame

[page 29]

structures, where the boys and girls of this new country
have opportunities above the average for making their start up the hill of
science.The teachers are of good
ability, and the scholars, as a rule, in such a high state of discipline as to
be a constant wonder to educators from the East who may come among us and study
them.

Of churches, all the leading denominations are represented
in the county, many of them with several different buildings and organizations.Others are being planted in various parts as fast as the growth of
population and religious sentiment demand it.

The climate of Kansas, and not the least of this part of
it, is a marvel to all new comers.While
we have some cold days in Winter, and some hot ones in Summer, yet there is
scarcely a place to be found where the weather is so delightful as a whole.Hot nights are almost unknown, being tempered with cool breezes.The Summer is hot enough to mature good corn crops—as witness the
magnificent yield of last year—yet the sultry, muggy days of lower altitudes
are scarcely known.The season is
also long, so that a late planting, even that which for some reason may not get
into the ground until July, often matures.We have, too, some cold, stormy, disagreeable days in Winter, yet the
pleasant invigorating ones are largely in the majority.The winter roads form a feature

[page 30]

which should not be overlooked in cataloguing the good
points of this county.Hard and
smooth as a floor where well traveled, nearly always dry and seldom dusty, they
are a constant source of wonder to the see-saw between freezing and thawing,
with consequent alternating roughness and mud, of other states.

As one of the results of good climate, high prairie and
good drainage, is the healthfulness of the county.This is a matter which every body should consider well in selecting a
home.There is sickness here, of
course, but the most of it is either imported or brought on by carelessness or
imprudence.Some came here to die,
as they express it, who are now, under the genial influence of our pure, dry,
exhiliarating [sic] air, enjoying better health than for years in the past.Some among us had their death warrants from their back east physicians a
dozen years ago, but coming to this bracing climate are still defying the
execution of it, and are in the possession of at least average health and
strength.

Rice county is abundantly supplied with good, wholesome
drinking water to be found at a depth of from six to twenty-five feet, according
to the elevation of the ground.For
stock there are numerous creeks emptying into the Arkansas and Little Arkansas,
one of which

[page 31]

flows through the southern and the other through the
eastern part of the county.For
irrigating purposes the clouds of heavy supply in copious showers, and even
tempt our farmers sometimes to cry, “Hold, enough!”And this is the desert where a few short years ago it was thought to be
certain starvation to attempt to live by farming.

As has already been said, this is comparatively a treeless
country;yet there is a fair share
of timber along the water courses, and many farmers have groves of young trees
already growing about them.Some
get their supply of fuel from the trimming and pruning of these natural and
cultivated tracts of timber.For
the most part, however, the people depend on coal brought to them from the east
and west—from the mines of Kansas and Colorado.

The markets of the country are also eastward and westward.Cattle, hogs, corn, wheat, broom corn, hay, butter, eggs, and poultry,
are all shipped, some to the east and north, some to the mining country of
Colorado and New Mexico.With
Colorado largely devoted to mining and grazing as it must needs be, it must
always send out a loud call to the fertile prairies of Kansas for the
necessities of the table and the feeding pen.

[page 32]

Is There Land in Rice County for Sale?

There is.There
is plenty of it for sale, and good land, too;and it is offered at prices which are really low.To the eastern investigator, it is a matter of surprise how much land is
in the market, and sometimes he may think that there is some undesirable reason
in this fact.He wonders at the
number of farms and claims which are for sale.He is met at the depot, on the street, in the stores, by the man who has
land for sale or wants to sell his farm.They
go into a land office and they can find most anything in the way of a farm they
want, for sale, and it is not surprising that they stop to think and ask the
question why, as it appears to them, does everybody want to sell out?After they become acquainted they will find that the men who want to sell
are those who took up government land solely for the purpose of staying on it
until they could sell out for a few hundred dollars, in that way to make a raise
of a little money;or the land
offered belonged to single men who are tired living on a claim;in some cases claim holders get sick and desire to return to the east.But the man who has got a family and came west to secure a home has got
no land for sale;he has got just
what he came after, and will hold on to it.They are the men who will make good homes, raise good cattle, horses,
hogs and sheep;they are the men
who will secure independence and make the country rich.This is true of every county in the state, and Rice county is no
exception.No matter where you go
in the western states, claims and farms are advertised for sale or trade, and
the restless spirit of the native American will never be entirely quiet until he
quits this world of ours.

Why Not Go Further West, for Government Land?

There is no government land left untaken in Rice county.Can you show us whese [sic] there is?Only a very little is left, and in another year there will not be any.In the extreme western and southwestern part of the state, in a country
which is barren, unwatered, dry, rainless;where you have to go from one hundred to three hundred feet for water,

[page 33]

and get poor water at that;where the railroads have not penetrated, and have nothing to induce them
to penetrate;where educational and
social privileges are unknown;where
the rude border elements of society—the cowboy, the gambler, the
desperado—are the only neighbors;there,
we say, you can still homestead a little land.The tree claims are all taken.

No, you can go out there if you want to.You can take up a homestead, and condemn yourself and family to
banishment and penal servitude.But
you can’t raise a crop there, no matter what the unscrupulous land agents say.You can’t raise enough to buy your land at the government price.Your living will be expensive.You
will have to pay every time you turn around.And by the time you have “proved up,” your land will have cost you
$3, $5, and $6 an acre, instead of $1.25.You
try it and see.

On the other hand, you can come to Rice county and buy land
at prices ranging from $5 to $25 per acre, according to its proximity to the
railroad.Now, you can raise
something on this land.You can sell
what you raise.You will have
something to sell.You can make a
living here, and a little more, and thus you can gradually get ahead, and meet
your payments, if you have bought on time, without inconvenience.It is not the size of an
obligation which makes it hard or easy to meet;it is the extent of one’s resources
which must be considered.If you
are dead poor you can’t pay for your chewing tobacco.If you are well fixedyou
can smoke cigars, and stand off the storekeeper at that.

[page 34]

We repeat, there is plenty of excellent land for sale in
Rice county at low prices, long time and easy terms.If you wish to get at it, seek further in these pages.

Such, in brief are some of the advantages of Rice county in
the way of climate, soil, healthfulness, products, etc.Such are some of the reasons why persons seeking homes should look here
before going elsewhere.Seeing is
believing.Come and be convinced.

[page 35]

(J. H. Ricksicker’s Cattle Ranch, Rice County, Kansas.)

[page 36]

Chapter IV.

ALL ABOUT KANSAS

Some Intelligible
Information Carefully Compiled.

Questions and
Answers about the State, Its Advantages and Peculiarities.

Just What YOU Want
to Know.

Every mail brings to the compilers of these pages numbers
of inquiries about Kansas.They
come from all classes of people, and concern a great diversity of information.We answer these inquiries gladly.Perhaps
we can answer a few of them here, and thus anticipate a few of them.We have tabulated some of those which most often come to us.

1.What is the
population of Kansas?

The enumeration as taken in 1884 was 1,135,614.In 1875, it was less than one-half that number.

2.Are your
people generally prosperous?

Yes, we doubt if there is another state in the Union where
there is less want, where legitimate industry is more amply rewarded, or where
men are making more money.We know
there is none where lands are advancing more rapidly, and as they have not yet
reached even an approximation of their actual value, it may be safely said they
will continue to enhance for several years more.

3.Must I then
believe all that I hear about your state?

This is easy to answer.Believe a reasonable amount of what you read about Kansas, and a little
perhaps that is unreasonable, for Kansas is in and of itself a precedent.Its growth has been unparallel in the history of states, yet it has
suffered from exaggerations.It is
not the only good country in the world, but believe us it is one of the best.Come and see, then you can decide for yourself.It is fair to look upon, and truth never hurts it.In thirty years it has had but three general crop failures.Has your State a better record?The
last few years have been uniformly successful and probably justify the great
praise you have heard about it.

4.Have you
railroads?

You will be astonished at the numbers when you reach Kansas
City.There are over 4,000 miles of
well equipped roads in the state.The
rate of fare is 3 cents a mile.A
beneficent railroad law fixes that.The
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe brings you to our part of the state.

[page 37]

5.Is your
county healthy?

The whole state is healthy.We have plenty of sunlight and pure air, and are high enough above the
level of the sea and far enough from the “shaking belt” to be wholly free
from malaria.The bracing
atmosphere is also a foe to every form of pulmonary disorder.We have more doctors than business for them.

6.Are the
winters long?

If you will look at the map you will see that our state is
as far south as Virginia.Generally
the winters are short and open.The
last two or three seasons, however, have been cold and we have had some snow and
plenty of frost.But the winters
usually are not long.They come
late in the year and give way early to a long and sunny summer, when everything
grows, and grows, and grows.It is
said that Kansas has more sunshining days, and more days when a farmer may work
in the open air, in each year, than any other state.So far as our knowledge goes this is true.The summer heat is not distressing, and people work steadily
out-of-doors without enervation.Sunstroke
is unknown in our experience.We
have strong winds, especially at night, making sleep grateful after the day’s
toil, but little damage is ever caused by those terrors of other states, namely,
cyclones.

7.Is it a
good stock country?

The growing and shipping of live stock shares equally with
agriculture the attention of the people.On
January 1, 1885, the cattle in the state were valued at over seventy million
dollars.The growth of this
interest has been amazing.In five
years the number of cattle has doubled.The
State Board of Agriculture now reports 2,238,785 head.Kansas has millions of acres of good pasture.The stockmen all make money.

8.What of
markets?

We have them east and west of us, and at home.It is not a question of finding markets, it is a problem how best to
supply them.

9.Do you have
plenty of fuel and water?

The timber of Kansas is usually confined to the banks of
streams and small groves which form only a small part of the area of the State.Coal is burnt because it is cheap and convenient.Kansas mines a vast amount of good coal in many of her counties, and it
is sold everywhere at a low price.Much
Colorado coal is used, and Pennsylvania anthracite is always to be had of local
dealers by those who prefer it.

Water is accessible at easy depths, varying from 10 to 40
feet.The supply is inexhaustible.Drive wells are common, being effective and inexpensive.Wind-mill pumps are universally used.The stockmen generally prefer this method, as it provides pure water at
all times, cool in summer and warm in winter.For drinking purposes, the water in Central Kansas has not one
objectionable quality.

10.Is the
soil, and are the crops what they are represented to be?

The fertility of Kansas soil has passed into a proverb.So much is

[page 38]

(Cattle Ranch of W. Q. Elliott, Rice County, Kansas)

[page 39]

certain.The
soil is dark, sandy loam, rich in everything that sustains a rank plant life.It is deeper in the valleys and bottoms than on uplands, but it is so
fertile at all points as never yet to have needed a fertilizer.The drainage is excellent.The
sub-soil carries off the surplus water, enough moisture being retained to
withstand dry weather if such comes.

Kansas mud is an honest mud, for it has a bottom.Teams do not get mired.Roads
quickly dry out and with little travel become hard and clean.This is a point of wonder to new-comers, who always commend the natural
roads of the State.

As to crops, that, too, is a matter well understood.We have endeavored to give some idea of their diversity and abundance.Localities have specialties, but there is no locality that will not grow
a variety of the small grains, fruit and vegetables.The prophecies of the past have been fulfilled.A prominent commercial journal of Chicago says that Kansas next year will
in all probability take the place Illinois has so long occupied as the greatest
agricultural commonwealth in the Union.Strong
words, no doubt, but the estimate is made from figures furnished by the
Department of Agriculture at Washington.Think,
for a moment, of the possibilities of a State which last year produced 50
million bushels of wheat and 190 million bushels of corn, and other things in
proportion.

11.What kind
of fences do you build?

The commonest are barbed wire, which can be put up for
about $100 per mile, though this will vary with the varying price of wire.Osage orange hedges are popular.In
four years the Osage makes a strong, mature hedge, which is both practical and
beautiful.The herd law is in force
in nearly all counties, thereby making it optional whether or not a man shall
enclose his farm, he being as secure from trespass in one case as the other.Nothing has contributed more to the development of Central Kansas than
this, and the law is universally respected.

12.Are taxes
heavy?

No.The taxes
on a quarter section of unimproved prairie will range from $10 to $25.The State has only a small debt, and taxes for all purposes are
reasonable.A synopsis of the tax
laws appears on another page.

13.Have you
good schools and churches?

Yes, and plenty of them.It is claimed, we cannot say with how much truth, that Kansas stands next
to Massachusetts in the matter of common schools.The permanent school fund amounts to the grand and actual cash total of
nearly three million dollars, with a residue in unsold land valued at upwards of
$12,000,000.Kansas, which is twice
as large as Ohio and two and a half times the size of Indiana, had donated to it
for school purposes one-eighteenth of its whole area.

14.Is there
government land left?

Not in the eastern half of the state.In remote and undesirable

[page 40]

localities, away from railroads, away from towns, away from
rivers and creeks, away from civilization, away from the region of adequate
rainfall, on the frontier in short, claims may be taken, but it is not this part
of Kansas of which we write.That
must always remain a debatable agricultural region, save where irrigation is
practicable.

15.If
everything is so prosperous in Kansas, people contented, and making money, why
are so many willing to sell?

While this is clear to a Western man it will bear
explanation to the Eastern reader.The
answer is that it comports with the Western idea of speculation.A man has his price for everything here, and if he can sell at a profit
he sells.In this way he increases
his capital.He does not offer to
sell because he wants to leave the state.He
will remain here.Once a Kansan
always a Kansan.

16.Can I
trade my farm in the East for one in your county?

We wish you could, if that would bring you among us.There are many men who want to trade in that way.Owners of Kansas farms and ranches, of Kansas land of any sort, find they
can get more for their land here than for anything they can trade it for.

17.Can you
get me a situation in Kansas?

Young man, this is not a country of situations.If you are a farmer and want to start in for yourself, or hire out, come
on;you will find what you are
looking for.If you know how to
handle stock and want to go into the cattle business, come on.If you are a good mechanic, also come on.You need not be idle a minute.But
if you are after a clerkship, or a position in a bank where there is nothing to
do, except to county other people’s money and appropriate what you want for
your own sweet uses, mark it well, young man, you are not wanted in Kansas.We know that, and we know it hard, with one hand tied behind us.This is not the place for those out of employment, as that phrase is
generally understood.Our own
cities are strewn with such wrecks already.Kansas is an agricultural and pastoral State, and its opportunities are
to the farmer and the grazer.Brains,
muscle, energy, and perseverance—these are wanted, and there is always a place
for them.

18.Can I
succeed without money to start with?

Many have succeeded whose only capital in the beginning was
a ready hand and a stout heart.But
we advise no one to come to Kansas unless he has money enough to make a small
purchase, and provide for the first year, which is always the hardest.It used to be that nothing was necessary to a man’s fortune in Kansas,
save his presence, but the time has gone by when reward comes without toil. It
is easy enough to make money if a man will work for it.

19.What kind
of grasses have you?

Both tame and wild.To
enumerate them would be to write a tedious list.Some of us can remember when the tame grass controversy was at its
heights in Illinois.Some of us,
indeed, can remember when

[page 41]

farming was pronounced a failure upon the open prairies of
that state.The same ground has
been gone over in this state, and with precisely the same result.Blue grass, clover and the other popular varieties thrive here, but there
is such an abundance of prairie meadow and pasture that they are preferred.

20.How shall
I get to Kansas?

Ask your nearest ticket agent.He will sell you a ticket to any point on the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe.Your fare
will be a small outlay in comparison with the satisfaction it will be to you to
have seen the country.

21.Does it
cost more to live there than where I am now?

That depends.The
price of necessities is not much above that in eastern states, and we include
general merchandise and agricultural implements.Some articles range less.Kansas
is so centrally located, so near to market, and so good a market of itself, that
it enjoys the commercial advantages of older states.

2.If I come,
will you show me your lands?

Certainly.We
prefer that a man should look over our properties and select that which pleases
him best, and we have teams employed for that purpose.We charge no commission to the customer, and give him, so far
as we are able, the benefit of our experience.

23.Shall I be
sure of complete and perfect title if I buy?

It is a condition of all sales that every piece of land
shall show a clear abstract.We
attend to this important matter ourselves.

24.When is
the best time to come?

It is always a good time to come to Kansas.The men who want to get good farms at a cheap price must come soon or
they will find the land taken.Immigration
never promised to be greater than it will be this Spring and Summer.A correspondent who has just made a trip through our section of the
country, writes:

“Every town I have visited is full of land prospectors,
and they appear to mean business.Most
of the new comers are bright, active, intelligent men, with plenty of vigor, and
capital enough to give them a good start.They
are not infrequently the sons of farmers in the eastern states, whose families
have grown too big for the old farm, and whose boys are striking out for
themselves.”

And if, as there is luck in odd numbers, you fall to
wondering whether Kansas is a new Garden of Eden, as some have represented it to
be, we will answer just as frankly that since the original experiment in that
direction somewhere in Asia, a number of years since, there has been no earthly
paradise.El Dorado is the shadow
of a dream, and Utopia merely a piece of Greek imagery.Kansas is a living reality, with the faults only of a lusty manhood.It has been prettily described as a state four hundred miles long, two
hundred miles wide, eight thousand miles thick, and reaching to the stars.It, then, is certainly large enough for you and yours.

Under the above head the St. Louis Republican says:“Kansas
is probably the most prosperous state in the union.It has had a succession of good crops.It has sprung up in the scale of agricultural states to a
position very near the top.”

Thanks.But
what state is any nearer the top?Let
us take the National Bureau of Agriculture for 1883.

Is it Missouri?Kansas
raised 11,145,000 bushels more corn than Missouri.

Is it Illinois?Kansas
raised 85,607,686 bushels more of corn, 4,701,100 bushels more of wheat, and
18,725,334 bushels more of oats than Illinois.

Is it Iowa?Kansas
raised 4,176,000 bushels more corn than Iowa.

Is it Nebraska?Nebraska
produced 101,278,900 bushels of corn—a big crop, but Kansas raised 172,800,000
bushels, 72,921,100 bushels in favor of Kansas.

Perhaps it is Minnesota?Kansas raised just 157,875,100 bushels of corn more than Minnesota.Next.

Is it Dakota?She
is not a wheat producing state, but when the wheat dance is called she waltzes
in with 16,128,100 bushels.But
when Kansas raises 55,815,100 Dakota gets tired.

BUY A HOME.

It should be the first ambition of every man to own a home
of his own.The man who rents a
house for his family, other things being equal, is a better citizen than the man
who has no family, and by the same reasoning which makes this true, the man who
has a family, and owns his own home is a better citizen than the man who rents.

The man who owns his home is rooted to the soil like a
tree, and becomes a fixture in the community in which he lives.He owns a part of the town that he lives in, and to the extent of
ownership is interested in its prosperity and growth.When the town grows his property increases in value, and thus he grows
with his neighbors, and it is this

[page 44]

Interest in common with the other home owners that makes
him a desirable citizen.

After he gets his home the adverse winds that blow over the
town shakes his tree with the rest, and the warm rain and bright sunshine that
make the other trees grow, sends his tree heavenward likewise.He readily sees that it is to his interest to patronize the institutions
of his own community, as it is in that way that cities are built.When he builds a house he lets the contract to home builders, as they
will in turn patronize him.When he
furnishes his house he applies to the home dealer for the same reason, and so
the good work goes on.

Young man, get a home of your own if it has but one room.Become a tax payer with the others, and thereby secure the right to be
regarded as part of the community in which you live.

RAINFALL.

An average based on the rainfall of ten years shows that
there is more rain in Kansas during the months of May, June, July and August,
than in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, or Nebraska—states not usually considered
droughty ones.Successful farming
in Kansas is almost entirely the result of an intelligent understanding of the
climate and a compliance with its requirements.Deep plowing, repeated harrowing, and frequent rolling have
brought success to every farmer who has practiced them.There is no state where the results and rewards of working the soil are
surer than in Kansas, if an intelligent system of farming and rotation of crops
are adapted to both soil and climate.In
the western counties, where stock raising is the chief industry, there is less
rainfall than in other parts of the state.

VALUE OF KANSAS
LANDS.

Some items published in our news columns, says that
Atchison Champion, illustrates the
rapid advance in the value of Kansas lands during the past year or so.We think it reasonably certain, it says, that every acre of Kansas
farming land has nearly doubled in price during the past two years, and is still
going up.Good land is becoming
scarce in the Kansas market.Its
value is beginning to be appreciated, as it has not been until a few years past.Immigration is flowing in rapidly.Kansas
is to-day the most prosperous state in the Union.It has experienced only two general crop failures since it was opened to
settlement in 1854.it has a healthful climate, a soil of unequaled fertility, an
intelligent, enterprising population, and the best of transportation facilities.It is bound to grow rapidly.Its
lands have, therefore, a real, permanent, and steadily increasing value, and the
day will soon come when every farm in the eastern half of the state will readily
command from forty to seventy-five dollars per acre.

MENNONITE EXODUS
FROM DAKOTA.

The announcement that a large colony of Mennonites, who
settled in Dakota over nine years ago, have moved to Kansas, is very
significant.During their residence
in the north they have had ample opportunity to become acquainted with the
country.They have seen it Summer
and Winter, at its best and at its worst.The
proposal to change their residence is obviously not a mere whim.Other Mennonites live in the Arkansas Valley in Kansas, and the two
colonies, on comparing notes, find that the success of those in the southern
latitude, where the climate is mild, and diversified agriculture is possible,
has been vastly greater than that of their kindred farther north.The extreme northwest is a great country for spring wheat.But, taking everything into account, the southwest is a much better place
for immigrants.—Editorial in St. Louis
Globe-Democrat.

SAFETY IN
INVESTMENT.

Men deal in stocks, they buy and sell on margins, they
speculate in mines, but in all of these where one man makes money fifty leave
the business poorer than they began.In
all the history of Wall Street, there is hardly an instance where a man who has
devoted his life to business on ‘change has retired with a competency.And the thousands who have speculated in mines, and have from time to
time been called upon to pay assessments, until they have at last lost all, will
further bear our the assertion.

Careful investments in Kansas lands have none of the
elements of risk above named.The
investor knows that he has something tangible;something that cannot be cornered;something
that he will not have to brace up with margins, and something that in nine cases
out of ten will pay a handsome profit.

GRASS FED.

The future wealth of Kansas is in her grass, which is rich,
varied, abundant, unconquerable by disaster.The army of money-makers in the state look to the great live-stock
interest for their surest return.It
is not too much to say that more grass grows upon one acre of the Southwest
Kansas prairies than upon five acres of the famous California and Australia
“sheep walks.”Colorado, Texas,
and New Mexico have no such pastures.

THAT’S WHAT.

Our cities are growing;the railroads change their time tables every week to accommodate new
cities that were not on the last one issued.There isn’t a man idle who wants work.Farmers pump water for the cattle with wind-mills and do their plowing
sitting upon a spring seat, with a box of cigars on one side.In the east they carry their water from the nearest creek, and walk
behind a plow until they have no dis-

[page 46]

tinct idea whether they are shoving the machine or the
horses pulling it.The man who
can’t thrive, prosper, and grow rich in Kansas would starve in a baker.If you want to see how this will assay to the line, come to Kansas.

CHEAP ENOUGH.

The question is often asked, What does it cost to live in
Kansas?In answer, we clip the
following from a Kansas paper:“Fifteen
lbs. granulated sugar for $1;25
boxes matches for 25 cents;light
brown sugar, 16, 16 ½, and 17 lbs. for $1;Arbuckle and Levering coffees, 16 cents per lbs.;best cut loaf sugar, 12 lbs for $1;roller-mill four, 85 cents per sack, and every sack warranted.”

SURE.

The growth of Kansas in population and wealth during the
last few years has surpassed the expectation of the most sanguine.In less than a dozen years over 90,000 square miles of her lands have
been transformed from their wild natures to a high state of cultivation, and
villages and hamlets, as by magic, have grown into cities, and still the work
goes on.Kansas has just cause to
boast of her schools, churches, government and people.

IT PAYS.

Rate per cent of return on money invested in farms, from
field crops, compiled from statistics of the National Bureau:

Pennsylvania

13-1/3

Ohio

13-8/9

New York

16-5/6

Maryland

17-3/8

Indiana

18-1/30

Michigan

18-1/4

Illinois

20-1/5

Wisconsin

20-1/3

Kansas

22-1/4

[page 47]

Chapter VI.

A Word with Thee!Only a Word, for a Word to the Wise is Sufficient.

We are now come to the last and least chapter of our little
book; but one which is probably the most important of them all, since it will
enable the reader to localize and utilize any information he may have gained
herein.This book is published by
the Sterling Land & Investment Co., and is handed to you free of charge, in
hopes of a possible mutual benefit.

The Sterling Land & Investment Co., is a stock company,
whose $100,000 of stock is all taken.The
stock is principally owned by Sterling men, though some is held by outside
parties, notably by prominent officials of the Santa Fe Railway.

The purposes of the company are to develop Sterling and
Rice county.This work is issued in
furtherance of those purposes.

The company have for sale any quantity of the finest and
cheapest lands in Central Kansas;also
the best business and residence lots, and the best speculative properties in the
stirringyoung city of Sterling.The Cooper Memorial College addition to Sterling was laid out by them
this Fall, 1886.Large numbers of
lots have been sold in this addition already.There remain any number of bargains there and elsewhere.

What the reader should remember is that the members of this
company are all responsible and respected citizens.They know all about the country and the town they represent,and their statements can be depended upon with perfect confidence.

The Sterling Land & Investment Co. thank you personally
for your kind attention.If you
should like to know anything more about Sterling or Rice county, do not hesitate
to write to the officers named below.It
is their business to supply your wants and answer your questions.They are glad to do so.

The Sterling Land & Investment Co. will be very glad to
send you or any friends of yours copies of this little book, at any address you
may designate, free of charge.